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Tag: renewable energy

  • Colorado mountains’ reduced snowpack — a sign of things to come or temporary? (Letters)

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    Reduced snowpack — a sign of things to come, or a temporary problem?

    Re: “Endangered snowpack,” Denver Post three-part series on climate and ski industry, Feb. 15-17

    The Post seems to be heavily focused on climate change and any weather that supports its philosophy. Over the last few days, there were a number of articles on Colorado’s recent warm/low snow weather and climate change.

    However, this partial analysis doesn’t provide a full picture, including:

    1) For at least the last five years, there have been typical snows and temperatures here.

    2) It ignores the record cold/snow in the eastern United States this year that killed more than 100 people.

    3) Huge lakes froze over this year (such as Erie and Champlain) that rarely freeze. It begs the question — is weather variability being confused with climate change by The Post?

    In examining the complex climate, a complete analysis is needed to provide a comprehensive view– not cherry-picking events that meet a predetermined agenda. I wonder if The Post has a significant “confirmation bias” on this issue, where anything that doesn’t agree gets buried and things that confirm it get endlessly pushed.

    William Turner, Denver

    With the “Endangered Snowpack” article, there’s a color timeline graph of the number of days that individual Colorado ski resorts were open in 2025, plus dismal projections for 2050 and 2090, based upon the assertion that the “damage already done by anthropogenic climate change to the U.S. ski industry is evident”. That may be the case, but such climate change, reputedly caused by greenhouse gas emissions, could not have occurred overnight.

    In other words, why are there no graphs for 2015, 2000, 1995, etc.? (If the number of ski days in past decades is not easily obtainable, then the recorded snowfall would probably have made a better metric for this analysis.) Regardless, any valid attempt to predict future snowfall is meaningless if it fails to include statistics on snowfall from previous years.

    John Contino, Golden

    Don’t let politicians get involved in water compact negotiations

    Re: “States fail to meet another deadline for water deal,” Feb. 17 news story

    The Post has been carrying a series on the current drought-caused water shortages and their impact on the ski resorts. These stories are of “above the fold, front-page importance.”  Tucked away in the upper corner of Page 2 on Tuesday is an article about states missing the deadline for an agreement on distribution of the shrinking water flows in the Colorado River and the threat of the Bureau of Reclamation stepping in and setting the distribution. Extended litigation is forecast.

    The dispute between the states boils down to the split between the Upper Basin states and the Lower Basin states, and whether the Upper Basin states should reduce their allotments during low-flow years, which they oppose.

    The Colorado ski industry uses a tremendous amount of Colorado River water to make snow. The Front Range cities divert tremendous amounts of Colorado River water for urban domestic use. Both have purchased sufficient senior water rights to sustain current standards, but these are Colorado state water rights, which could have dubious value in the negotiations over the interstate distribution of available river flows.

    In the current political climate, Colorado, being a so-called “blue state,” may have trouble retaining these rights. The president is throwing out all kinds of threats of retaliation for perceived slights, and he controls the Bureau of Reclamation. In particular, Denver, a “sanctuary city,” could be very vulnerable to having its current diversion severely curtailed.

    I hope the Denver Water Board, as well as city and state officials, and our Congressional representatives, act expeditiously to mitigate any adverse impacts.

    Richard (Dick) Emerson, Denver

    Move beyond false choices in energy policy

    Re: “Global energy demand is rising as Colorado is still restricting operations,” Feb. 15 commentary

    In her opinion column on global energy demand, Lynn Granger creates a false dichotomy when she states, “Colorado politics has framed energy policy as a moral choice rather than a systems challenge.” Energy policy is both a moral choice and a systems challenge.

    Given the scientific consensus that fossil fuels are the root cause of the climate crisis, and given the impacts we’ve seen here in Colorado — including the fires, floods, beetle-kill, meager snowpacks, and the dire condition of the Colorado River — doing anything other than constraining the burning of fossil fuels can be considered a crime against the people of Colorado.

    And, given that the whole planet shares the same atmosphere, any steps that would perpetuate or increase the burning of fossil fuels in Colorado could readily be considered crimes against humanity. Energy policy is indeed a moral choice.

    And energy policy is also a systems challenge. Our challenge is to transition our energy systems from huge, established, and entrenched extractive and polluting industries to systems more reliant on clean energy and more resilient to disruptions by climate-change-driven weather events.

    Fortunately, many of the technologies we need are already available. And they are being implemented right here in Colorado. In 2024, Colorado overtook California as the EV capital of the United States with 25.3% in new EV sales. The electricity delivered by Holy Cross Energy was 85% clean last year.

    We can get to a cleaner, safer, healthier future, but Ms. Granger’s false choice doesn’t help us.

    Chris Hoffman, Boulder

    Lynn Granger’s guest opinion is basically “drill, baby, drill” obfuscated in a word salad. Instead of “drill, baby, drill” she talks about “maximizing existing assets” and “preserving affordability.” She helpfully points out that burning hydrocarbons is an easy and relatively cheap way to provide additional energy, because demand is increasing.

    Granger chastises Colorado leaders for prioritizing the “tired” and “outdated” framing of renewable energy. Her opinion is nothing more than the classic Baby-Boomer approach to everything — “let’s consume it, burn it, use it up, borrow and spend it” and then pass all the problems down to our children and grandchildren.

    When you boil down her opinion, it turns out to be — take the easy way out.

    Roy W. Penny Jr., Denver

    When the world asks us too much, dogs provide comfort

    Re: “Are we asking too much of our dogs?” Feb. 15 commentary

    Clara Bow, the “It Girl,” is reported to have said, “The more I see of men, the more I like dogs.”

    Are we asking too much of our dogs? Absolutely not. Their potential as replacements for human interactions has been underestimated for years. Once, a family’s dog was just a dog. That is not longer true.

    Harry, my third and final dachshund, was invaluable to me during the pandemic, and he is even more invaluable to me now during this wretched presidency. (Does anyone not know by now how psychologically depleting last year and this year have been?)

    The importance of dogs — and other pets — during the pandemic became the theme of an art exhibition at the Lone Tree Arts Center. Harry was featured.

    I’m elderly. Final glide pattern. Mark Twain said, “The dog is a gentleman; I hope to go to his heaven, not man’s.”

    Craig Marshall Smith, Highlands Ranch

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  • LI leaders unite to bring Sunrise Wind to finish line | Long Island Business News

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    THE BLUEPRINT:

    • Long Island leaders call on to lift lease suspension.

    • Project is 45% complete and expected to power 600,000 homes.

    • Sunrise Wind supports , , and .

    • Court injunction allows construction to continue amid BOEM challenges.

    Long Island leaders gathered in Melville Friday to call on the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) to lift its lease suspension on Sunrise Wind, a project already 45% complete, to secure its economic benefits.

    In a letter to Acting BOEM Director Matthew Giancona, the group emphasized the project’s benefits, including stabilizing energy prices, supporting union jobs and boosting the downstream supply chain. The group stressed the need to advance the project without further delays.

    Sunrise Wind, under construction 30 miles off Montauk, is slated for operation next year and is expected to generate enough electricity to power 600,000 homes. The project has encountered obstacles following a recent BOEM suspension order, which developer is challenging in court. A preliminary injunction currently allows construction to continue while the lawsuit proceeds.

    “The LIA urges the federal government to rescind their suspension order immediately, and allow this job-creating project that supports a stable grid capable of accommodating future economic growth to make it to the finish line,” Matt Cohen, Long Island Association president and CEO, said, in a news release.

    “The economic benefits to Long Island and New York are undeniable – and the LIA supports an all-of-the-above energy strategy that incorporates all potential sources into our portfolio so our region can be prosperous,” he added.

    “Sunrise Wind is well on its way to being completed and has already undergone an extensive government approval process, and should continue as planned,” Lawrence Waldman, LIA chairman, said, in the news release. “In addition to the significant job creating and other economic benefits, it helps Long Island and New York integrate another source of energy into our portfolio, which is critical for a reliable and affordable grid.”

    Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine said in the news release that Long Island leaders “respectfully request that the BOEM adhere to the court’s decision and allow this project to proceed. The Sunrise Project will provide much-needed alternative energy solutions … and has created hundreds of jobs for skilled laborers. We want to see this project move forward.”

    Kyle Strober, executive director of Association for a Better Long Island, said in the news release that “Long Island’s unique geography positions it well to benefit from the tens of millions of dollars in economic activity and thousands of jobs this project represents. As Sunrise Wind moves forward, we must not only recognize its enormous economic and energy benefits but also sustain our support for its construction in a manner that underscores a unified alliance of public-private Long Island leadership.”

    Terri Alessi-Miceli, president and CEO of HIA-LIA, stressed the importance of the project.

    “This critical infrastructure project strengthens Long Island’s energy future while creating good-paying jobs and long-term economic benefits for our region,” she said in the news release. “Sunrise Wind represents a practical step toward diversifying our energy mix and investing in in a way that supports reliability, sustainability, and continued growth for Long Island and New York State.”

    Mike Florio, CEO of Long Island Builders Institute, said that projects “like Sunrise Wind are critical to Long Island’s future as we work to diversify our energy mix and invest in practical, reliable offshore wind infrastructure. Affordable and dependable energy is directly tied to housing production and the overall cost of living in our region. If we are serious about building more homes, supporting the workforce, and keeping Long Island competitive, we need energy solutions that are sustainable, scalable, and planned with growth in mind.”

    Marc Herbst, executive director of the Long Island Contractors’ Association (LICA) agreed.

    “This project represents a major opportunity to create good-paying union jobs, strengthen Long Island’s workforce, and deliver long-term economic benefits for our region,” he said in the news release. “Now is the time for Long Island’s business and labor leaders to keep the momentum going and continue advocating for the economic growth, local investment and job creation Sunrise Wind will bring to our communities.”

    John Durso, president of the Long Island Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, said in the news release that region “cannot afford further delays to critical .  Lifting the stop work order allows Sunrise Wind to move forward delivering union jobs, strengthening our energy grid, and advancing the kind of real progress Long Island needs.  After repeated attempts to disrupt this project, the court’s ruling is a much-needed win for Long Islanders.”

    Ryan Stanton, executive director of the Long Island Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, said in the news release that the “court’s decision on Sunrise Wind is a win for Long Island and a win for the rule of law.  This project delivers exactly what Long Island needs: power generation, energy resiliency, and thousands of good-paying union jobs.  It has already proven its economic value, and this court decision reinforces [that critical] energy infrastructure must not be politicized.”

    Matthew Aracich, president of The Building and Construction Trades Council of Nassau & Suffolk Counties, said in the news release that his organization offshore wind development represents “a critical investment in good-paying, union jobs and long-term economic stability for our region. Restarting the region’s projects has immediately put skilled tradespeople back to work, supporting thousands of positions in the construction, and manufacturing jobs that strengthen local supply chains. Labor believes we can grow our economy while protecting our environment, and offshore wind allows us to do both—creating union jobs here at home while advancing clean, reliable energy.”

    Robert Fonti, chairman of the Suffolk County Alliance of Chambers, said in the news release that the project ”represents both an energy investment and an economic opportunity for Long Island. Our small businesses want to see projects that create jobs, support local contractors, and move our region forward responsibly.”


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    Adina Genn

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  • ‘I can’t afford cooking gas,’ shutdown of Kenya’s Koko biofuel firm wipes out clean cooking options

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    NAIROBI, Kenya — It was designed to be as simple as buying airtime: a quick tap on the dispenser, a few shillings and a cooking canister refilled. Now, more than 3,000 Koko fuel supply points across Kenya sit idle, with no fuel and no clear answers for the households that relied on them.

    For more than a decade, Koko Networks helped shift over 1.5 million Kenyan homes without access to public gas systems away from smoky charcoal stoves to bioethanol, marketed as a cleaner, modern way to cook. The steady blue flame became a symbol of Kenya’s push toward cleaner household energy.

    That promise has dimmed.

    After failing to win government letter of authorization that would allow them to sell carbon credits — permits that allow holders to emit certain amount of greenhouse gases — Koko abruptly shut down its fuel distribution network, bringing to a halt a model once hailed as a poster child of Africa’s green transition.

    In Kibera, Nairobi’s largest informal settlement, most Koko Networks outlets have closed, and some have removed the bioethanol dispensers altogether. Since 2014, Koko had imported bioethanol products. That ended abruptly in 2023 when the government withheld its import permit, forcing Koko to use local sources that were erratic and more expensive.

    That reality is setting in for Fredrick Onchenge. He used to serve up to 50 Koko customers a day. Now his machines are silent.

    “Initially, I was confused,” Onchenge said. “Then it dawned on me what had just happened. My livelihood was gone. I tried calling the salesperson, but their phone was switched off.”

    For many customers, their access ended with a text message announcing the shutdown. Kitchens that once cooked meals without smoke now have idle double-burner stoves — reminders of a system that stopped overnight.

    Grace Kathambi is weighing her options.

    “This was a life changer for me,” Kathambi said. “I could not afford the $8 needed to refill a gas cylinder, and Koko was my best alternative. With about 30 U.S. cents, I could buy enough Koko fuel to cook.”

    With the bioethanol supply cut off, households like hers must now choose between returning to charcoal or finding money for more expensive liquefied petroleum gas.

    “I cannot afford to use gas,” said Margaret Auma. “Koko made life very easy for those of us who earn little from casual jobs. We feel abandoned, yet it’s not our fault.”

    For weeks, Koko and the Kenyan government haggled over a crucial letter authorizing carbon credits and import permits for bioethanol made from molasses, a sugarcane by-product. The company needed those approvals to unlock millions of dollars in international financing that helped keep fuel prices low. Kenyan authorities held back, citing broader concerns about the credibility of carbon credits.

    Koko — which counted the Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund, and South Africa’s Rand Merchant Bank as its investors, announced on Jan. 30 that without the approvals its business model was financially unsustainable and it was shutting down.

    “Koko’s case is uniquely multidimensional,” said David Ndii, Kenya’s presidential advisor on economic affairs. Ndii cited issues including the Paris Agreement framework, questions around the credibility of cookstove carbon credits, Kenya’s climate policies, carbon market regulations, the transparency of Koko’s business model and diplomatic considerations.

    He dismissed the prospect of state intervention, saying, “Even good doctors lose patients.”

    Kenya’s energy and treasury officials have declined to comment on the closure, which energy analysts say exposes weaknesses in how clean cooking is financed across Africa.

    “The clean cooking situation in Kenya, and across Africa is a serious crisis,” said Amos Wemanya, a senior analyst on renewable energy at Power Shift Africa. “This is not just about emissions or climate targets. It is about development, health, dignity and household survival.”

    Wemanya said models heavily reliant on carbon credits risk prioritizing markets over people.

    “We are not going to solve the clean cooking challenge through carbon math or carbon credit spreadsheets,” he said. “Carbon markets allow polluters to continue emitting while households, who are supposed to be the beneficiaries, still pay for the stoves and bear the risks when projects fail.”

    When such systems collapse, he added, it is households that suffer most.

    “They are the ones forced to revert to harmful alternatives like charcoal and paraffin,” Wemanya said.

    He said the Koko episode shows the priority should shift toward affordable electricity, especially in rural areas.

    “Clean cooking will not be solved through carbon credits,” he said. “The reality is that gas-based solutions were never a long-term climate solution. They simply shift households from firewood to imported fossil fuels. So, the bigger lesson here is that we need to move toward systems that truly work, primarily electricity powered by renewable energy.”

    For now, households like Auma’s must now choose between returning to charcoal or finding money for more expensive LPG.

    “What are we supposed to do? Go back to using charcoal in our one-room houses?” Auma asked. “That is the smoke and sickness we were trying to escape.”

    ____

    The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

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  • Court allows $700M Sunrise Wind project to resume | Long Island Business News

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    THE BLUEPRINT:

    • Federal judge grants injunction allowing to resume work

    • ‘s 924-megawatt project is located 30 miles off

    • Trump administration suspended five wind project leases in December

    • Project is nearly 45% complete and expected to power 600,000 homes

     

    Sunrise Wind, the 924-megawatt  project that Ørsted is developing 30 miles off Montauk, can resume construction, after being granted a preliminary injunction Monday to overturn the federal government’s suspension order.   

    The $700 million Sunrise Wind now joins the other four offshore wind projects to win orders from the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to resume after the U.S. Department of the Interior suspended the leases of five offshore projects on Dec. 22, citing a Pentagon complaint that the wind turbine blades would cause radar interference and create a national security risk.  

    President Trump has long railed against wind power, calling the turbines ugly and inefficient, a criticism that’s been echoed for offshore projects by Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, who is now running for governor with Trump’s endorsement. The move to suspend the wind projects was slammed by state and local officials, trade groups and organized labor, and the court injunctions to allow them to continue have been applauded. 

    U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand said the court decision allowing Sunrise Wind to immediately resume construction is a win for New York’s working families and the economy. 

    “As energy costs continue to soar, the Trump administration’s ridiculous attempts to halt this project would have killed good-paying jobs and raised energy costs on New Yorkers — all to score political points and benefit powerful special interests,” Gillibrand said in a written statement. “I will continue pushing back on the Trump administration’s brazen political attacks on New York that are raising costs and hurting families. New Yorkers should not be forced to pay more because of reckless and politically motivated interference by the Trump administration.” 

    Sunrise Wind is nearly 45 percent complete, and at the time of the lease suspension order, the project was expected to begin generating power as soon as October. The project is expected to provide enough energy to power about 600,000 homes. 

    In its court argument, Sunrise Wind claimed that the stop-work order was costing the project at least $1.25 million per day, and if the suspension lasted much longer, it could force cancellation of the project.    

    Empire Wind, a $5 billion wind power project off Long Island being developed by Equinor, won its court injunction on Jan. 15. The other three wind projects that can now resume include Revolution Wind, which is another Ørsted project off Rhode Island, Vineyard Wind for Massachusetts and Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind. 


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    David Winzelberg

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  • Trump administration scraps multimillion-dollar

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    SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has canceled solar projects in Puerto Rico worth millions of dollars, as the island struggles with chronic power outages and a crumbling electric grid.

    The projects were aimed at helping 30,000 low-income families in rural areas across the U.S. territory as part of a now-fading transition toward renewable energy.

    In an email obtained by The Associated Press, the U.S. Energy Department said that a push under Puerto Rico’s former governor for a 100% renewable future threatened the reliability of its energy system.

    “The Puerto Rico grid cannot afford to run on more distributed solar power,” the message states. “The rapid, widespread deployment of rooftop solar has created fluctuations in Puerto Rico’s grid, leading to unacceptable instability and fragility.”

    Javier Rúa Jovet, public policy director for Puerto Rico’s Solar and Energy Storage Association, disputed that statement in a phone interview Thursday.

    He said that some 200,000 families across Puerto Rico rely on solar power that generates close to 1.4 gigawatts of energy a day for the rest of the island.

    “That’s helping avoid blackouts,” he said, adding that the inverters of those systems also help regulate fluctuations across the grid.

    He said he was saddened by the cancellation of the solar projects. “It’s a tragedy, honestly,” he said. “These are funds for the most needy.”

    Earlier this month, the Energy Department canceled three programs, including one worth $400 million, that would have seen solar and battery storage systems installed in low-income homes and those with medical needs.

    In its email, the department said that on Jan. 9, it would reallocate up to $350 million from private distributed solar systems to support fixes to improve the generation of power in Puerto Rico. It wasn’t immediately clear if that funding has been allocated.

    One of those programs would have financed solar projects for 150 low-income households on the tiny Puerto Rican island of Culebra.

    “The people are really upset and angry,” said Dan Whittle, an associate vice president with the Environmental Defense Fund, which was overseeing that project. “They’re seeing other people keep the lights on during these power outages, and they’re not sure why they’re not included.”

    He noted that a privately funded project helped install solar panels and batteries on 45 homes a week before Hurricane Fiona hit Puerto Rico in September 2022.

    Whittle said he was baffled by the federal government’s decision.

    “They are buying hook, line and sinker that solar is the problem. It could not be more wrong,” he said.

    The solar projects were part of an initial $1 billion fund created by U.S. Congress in 2022 under former President Joe Biden to help boost energy resilience in Puerto Rico, which is still trying to recover from Hurricane Maria.

    The Category 4 storm slammed into the island in September 2017, razing an electric grid already weakened by a lack of maintenance and investment. Outages have persisted since then, with massive blackouts hitting on New Year’s Eve in 2024 and during Holy Week last year.

    In recent years, residents and businesses that could afford to do so have embraced solar energy on an island of 3.2 million people with a more than 40% poverty rate.

    But more than 60% of energy on the island is still generated by petroleum-fired power plants, 24% by natural gas, 8% by coal and 7% by renewables, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

    The cancellation of the solar projects comes a month after the administration of Puerto Rico Gov. Jenniffer GonzĂĄlez sued Luma Energy, a private company overseeing the transmission and distribution of power on the island.

    At the time, González said that the electrical system “has not improved with the speed, consistency or effectiveness that Puerto Rico deserves.”

    The fragility of Puerto Rico’s energy system is further exacerbated by a struggle to restructure a more than $9 billion debt held by the island’s Electric Power Authority, which has failed to reach an agreement with creditors.

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  • Climate activist predicts high electricity prices and Trump’s attacks on green energy will hurt GOP

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    RIPTON, Vermont — At a time when the Trump administration rolled back numerous environmental regulations while global temperatures and U.S. carbon pollution spiked, longtime climate activist Bill McKibben finds hope in something that didn’t seem that strong on a recent single-digit-temperature day: the sun.

    That sun has provided him cheap power for 25 years, and this month he installed his fourth iteration of solar panels on his Vermont home. In an interview after he set up the new system, he said President Donald Trump’s stance against solar and other cheap green energy will hurt the GOP in this year’s elections as electricity bills rise.

    After the Biden and Obama administrations subsidized and championed solar, wind and other green power as answers to fight climate change, Trump has tried to dampen those and turn to older and dirtier fossil fuels. The Trump administration froze five big offshore wind projects last month but judges this week allowed three of the projects to resume. Federal clean energy tax incentives expired on Dec. 31 that include installing home solar panels.

    Meanwhile, electricity prices are rising in the United States, and McKibben is counting on that to trigger political change.

    “I think you’re starting to see that have a big political impact in the U.S. right now. My prediction would be that electric prices are going to be to the 2026 election what egg prices were to the 2024 election,” said McKibben, an author and founder of multiple environmental and activist groups. Everyday inflation hurt Democrats in the last presidential race, analysts said.

    The Trump administration and a bipartisan group of governors on Friday tried to step up pressure on the operator of the nation’s largest electric grid to take urgent steps to boost power supplies in the mid-Atlantic and keep electricity bills from rising even higher.

    “Ensuring the American people have reliable and affordable electricity is one of President Trump’s top priorities,” said White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers.

    Globally, the price of wind and solar power is plummeting to the point that they are cheaper than fossil fuels, the United Nations found. And China leads the world in renewable energy technology, with one of its electric car companies passing Tesla in annual sales.

    “We can’t economically compete in a world where China gets a lot of cheap energy and we have to pay for really expensive energy,” McKibben told The Associated Press, just after he installed a new type of solar panels that can hang on balconies with little fuss.

    When Trump took office in January 2025, the national average electricity cost was 15.94 cents per kilowatt-hour. By September it was up to 18.07 cents and then down slightly to 17.98 cents in October, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

    That’s a 12.8% increase in 10 months. It rose more in 10 months than the previous two years. People in Maryland, New Jersey and Maine have seen electricity prices rise at a rate three times higher than the national average since October 2024.

    At 900 kilowatt-hours per month, that means the average monthly electricity bill is about $18 more than in January 2025.

    This week, Democrats on Capitol Hill blamed rising electric bills on Trump and his dislike of renewable energy.

    “From his first day in office, he’s made it his mission to limit American’s access to cheap energy, all in the name of increasing profits for his friends in the fossil fuel industry. As a result, energy bills across the country have skyrocketed,” Illinois Rep. Sean Casten said at a Wednesday news conference.

    “Donald Trump is the first president to intentionally raise the price of something that we all need,” Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz, also a Democrat, said Wednesday on the Senate floor. “Nobody should be enthused about paying more for electricity, and this national solar ban is making everybody pay more. Clean is cheap and cheap is clean.”

    McKibben has been sending excess electricity from his solar panels to the Vermont grid for years. Now he’s sending more.

    As his dog, Birke, stood watch, McKibben, who refers to his home nestled in the Green Mountains of Vermont as a “museum of solar technology” got his new panels up and running in about 10 minutes. This type of panel from the California-based firm Bright Saver is often referred to as plug-in solar. Though it’s not yet widely available in the U.S., McKibben pointed to the style’s popularity in Europe and Australia.

    “Americans spend three or four times as much money as Australians or Europeans to put solar panels on the roof. We have an absurdly overcomplicated permitting system that’s unlike anything else on the rest of the planet,” McKibben said.

    McKibben said Australians can obtain three hours of free electricity each day through a government program because the country has built so many solar panels.

    “And I’m almost certain that that’s an argument that every single person in America would understand,” he said. “I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t say: ‘I’d like three free hours of electricity.’”

    __

    Swinhart reported from Vermont. Borenstein reported from Washington. Matthew Daly contributed to this report from Washington.

    __

    The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

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  • Report: Utilities make progress fixing gas leaks

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    BOSTON — The state’s aging natural gas pipelines are still riddled with thousands of potentially dangerous and damaging leaks, according to a new state report that says utilities are making progress upgrading their infrastructure to reduce the hazards.

    Massachusetts utilities reported 20,564 gas leaks in 2024, about 4,675 of which were classified as “Grade 1” leaks, meaning they should be repaired immediately, according to the latest data from the state Department of Public Utilities.

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    By Christian M. Wade | Statehouse Reporter

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  • Empire Wind wins injunction to resume $5B offshore project | Long Island Business News

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    received a preliminary court injunction that allows construction to continue on its $5 billion wind project off Long Island. 

    The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted the injunction after Empire LLC challenged the federal governments stoppage issued last month. The suspended the leases of Empire Wind and four other offshore wind power projects, including Long Island’s Sunrise Wind on Dec. 22, citing a Pentagon complaint that the wind turbine blades would cause radar interference and create a national security risk. 

    Ørsted, the company behind Long Island’s Sunrise Wind project, announced last week it was also filing a court challenge to its lease suspension order from the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, to be followed by a motion for a preliminary injunction.    

    Empire filed its civil suit on Friday, Jan. 2 challenging the Department of the Interior’s order to suspend its project and sought a preliminary injunction to allow construction of the project, which it claims is 60 percent complete, while the litigation proceeds. 

    “Empire Wind will now focus on safely restarting construction activities that were halted during the suspension period,” , the company behind the Empire Wind project, said in a written statement. “In addition, the project will continue to engage with the U.S. government to ensure the safe, secure and responsible execution of its operations.” 

    Once completed in 2027, Empire Wind, being developed under contract with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, is expected to supply enough power to electrify 500,000 homes. The project has created nearly 4,000 jobs within the offshore lease area and through its revitalization of the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal, according to the company. 

    “We just received word that a federal judge in Washington has sided with us and the company Equinor, and other companies who are providers of offshore wind,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said via email. “The developer Equinor sued because the Trump administration arbitrarily issued a stop work order on a project that had been underway, contemplated for over a decade as part of our [renewable] energy strategy. We’re going to continue doing what we have to do every single step of the way, but for now the wind turbines will be turning on.” 

    Matt Cohen, Long Island Association president and CEO expressed support for the Long Island wind projects: “Today’s federal court ruling lifting the stop work order on offshore wind projects is a win for New York’s economy and jobs, ensuring that Empire Wind already in development can continue building and will power Long Island with clean, reliable energy in the near future, and we urge the same outcome for Sunrise Wind.” 


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    David Winzelberg

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  • California wants to mix hydrogen with gas to cut climate pollution. Critics say that poses risks

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    Alma Figueroa began to worry when she learned that her gas provider wanted to test a controversial solution to curb global warming: blend hydrogen with natural gas to power her stove and other appliances. Figueroa, who has asthma and recently learned her lung cancer is back, worries about health risks.

    “I don’t want to be anyone’s experiment,” said Figueroa, 60, a resident of Orange Cove in California’s Central Valley.

    The Southern California Gas Co. wants to blend and inject hydrogen into the town’s gas infrastructure, after the state agency that regulates utilities directed them and other companies to launch pilot projects. Proponents see it as key to helping California reduce planet-warming pollution by curbing reliance on gas while integrating cleaner energy into existing infrastructure. It’s part of a statewide effort to create safety rules for hydrogen blending. But opponents say it poses unnecessary risks, and Orange Cove’s mostly Latino and low-income residents say processes are happening without transparency or their input. Projects in states such as Colorado and Oregon have also raised concerns.

    Interest in deploying hydrogen boomed during the Biden administration but has been hard hit with the Trump administration’s cancellation of billions of dollars for hydrogen technology and other clean energy projects, including $1.2 billion for a hydrogen hub in California.

    The Orange Cove project is one of five proposed in California to test how gas pipelines and the appliances they fuel hold up with different amounts of hydrogen. Hawaii has been blending for decades.

    Natural gas is mostly methane, a potent planet-warming gas that’s supercharging extreme weather worldwide, which often impacts low-income and communities of color the most.

    Supporters see green hydrogen as one way to cut emissions. It’s made with renewable energy sources such as solar or wind to power an electrolyzer, which splits water into oxygen and hydrogen, a carbon-free gas that can be used to generate electricity and complement intermittent renewable energy. California Gov. Gavin Newsom has touted it “an essential aspect of how we’ll power our future and cut pollution.”

    Some see the 18-month proposed project in Orange Cove as one step in that direction. A solar farm would power the technology and direct the mixture, up to 5% hydrogen, to businesses and the town’s roughly 10,000 residents. The estimated $64.3 million project would be paid for with ratepayer money.

    A Minneapolis utility company estimated a blend of up to 5% green hydrogen would reduce carbon pollution by about 1,200 tons annually, the equivalent of removing 254 gas-powered cars.

    Janice Lin of the Green Hydrogen Coalition said it’s important to test blending. The U.S. has a vast network of gas pipelines — about 3 million miles, according to the Department of Energy — which can be used to move clean hydrogen while reducing reliance on gas, she said. If scaled, it could be cost-competitive and help industries that can’t fully electrify pollute less.

    “The way to move us away and really clean our air and minimize our reliance on fossil fuels is by having a viable alternative,” she said.

    California needs to demonstrate that it can blend like other countries but there are still unknowns, said Alejandra Hormaza, who teaches renewable energy at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. The consensus is that up to 20% hydrogen by volume is safe, she said, but “we need more experimental work that uses real natural gas infrastructure to fully understand the impacts of hydrogen.”

    In 2022, several gas companies filed a joint application to pursue hydrogen blending. The California Public Utilities Commission is expected to make a decision this year.

    SoCalGas first proposed testing hydrogen blending in facilities at the University of California, Irvine, in an affluent community. But it scaled back and revised its proposal following protests. When Orange Cove leaders expressed interest, the gas company identified the city an ideal candidate — it has various pipeline materials, including steel and polyethylene, a type of plastic, and only one gas feed coming in, allowing them ample control of the blend.

    Orange Cove city leaders voted unanimously in support. They did not respond to multiple calls and emails seeking comment. But in an August public hearing, Mayor Diana Guerra Silva said the project would provide workforce opportunities for youth and boost business from visitors, according to a transcript.

    At the hearing, resident Angelica Martinez said the town could become a “pioneer” in hydrogen blending and “deserves the national recognition and attention for its willingness to implement such an innovative project.”

    Orange Cove is a citrus farming town home to mostly Spanish-speaking Latino immigrants, with 39% of the total population living in poverty, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. It’s an area with much pollution and the highest rate of asthma in Fresno County.

    Figueroa said the community historically hasn’t gotten involved in city politics, though they have launched a petition against the project and voiced concerns at public meetings. “I think the only reason they are wanting Orange Cove is because they don’t think there’s going to be pushback,” she said. Some residents said they’ve asked city officials to host a town hall about the pilot, but it has yet to happen.

    Research shows that burning hydrogen-blended gas into older appliances not designed for it can increase emissions of nitrogen oxides, pollutants that worsen asthma and are linked to other respiratory issues. It can deteriorate certain materials and leak more easily, increasing the risk of explosions because hydrogen is more flammable.

    Ryan Sinclair, an environmental microbiologist at Loma Linda University, said homes with older appliances are more vulnerable to these risks — in older infrastructure, a 5% mix can bump nitrogen oxides emissions an average of 8%. Residents can’t opt out unless they replace their gas appliances with electric ones, and Sinclair worries Orange Cove’s low-income residents don’t have the means to replace or maintain older ones. He said more health risk assessments are needed before starting hydrogen blending.

    Cal Poly’s Hormaza, who’s researched hydrogen leakage from gas systems for the last decade, said there’s insufficient research on whether hydrogen can increase leaks.

    There are also concerns about hydrogen’s potential to increase Earth’s warming. Research shows hydrogen can indirectly heat the planet by interacting with other gases.

    Environmental groups say hydrogen should only be used in high-energy industries such as aviation, cement or steel-making, which can’t easily be electrified. Others say that electrifying appliances, for example, are more efficient ways to reduce emissions.

    “To me, it’s just an absurd project. It’s (a) boondoggle” that exposes residents to unnecessary risks, said Michael Claiborne, directing attorney with Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability, an advocacy group representing residents.

    If the projects are approved, SoCalGas has said it will employ safety measures before, during and after the project, including with leak surveys and detection technology, backflow prevention to keep hydrogen within the controlled area, and developing emergency responses.

    Orange Cove resident Francisco Gonzalez has friends with asthma and siblings with respiratory issues, so he worries about the health risks. His community is not against change or clean energy, he said, “but we are against being left out of the conversation.”

    ___

    Associated Press writer Jennifer McDermott contributed to this report from Providence, Rhode Island.

    ___

    The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of AP’s environmental coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment

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  • Long Island leaders debate future of offshore wind energy | Long Island Business News

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    THE BLUEPRINT:

    • Regional leaders discuss at LIA State of the Region event

    • Officials push an “all-of-the-above” strategy to meet energy needs

    Does wind energy have a future on Long Island?

    That was the question Matt Cohen, the president and CEO of the Long Island Association,  posed at the organization’s State of the Region breakfast at the Crest Hollow Country Club in Woodbury on Friday.

    About 1,200 local leaders gathered for the annual event, which included a discussion moderated by Cohen with New York State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman and Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine.

    When it comes to generating energy, the LIA, Cohen said, supports an “all of the above approach,” which, according to the organization’s priorities, includes investing in .

    The dialog comes just days after filed a lawsuit to allow its construction to continue once the Trump administration suspended its $5 billion wind power project off Long Island.

    At the breakfast, Cohen asked Blakeman, who has the support of President Donald Trump, about his position on the stop-work orders.

    “Residents of Nassau County do not want offshore wind turbines – they made that very clear,” Blakeman said. “We have a very robust commercial fishing industry. We have … one of the largest recreational boating communities in the United States. We have seen damage to marine life and [wind energy] is the most expensive form of energy generation.”

    Still, Blakeman said, “I agree with the LIA. I think we should have an all of the above attitude toward cheap energy generation.” Blakeman pointed to the southern tier of New York “that has one of the largest deposits of natural gas in the United States,” and tapping into that, he said, “would make gas cheaper for all of us.”

    As for Suffolk, “there is a future to finish ,” Romaine said to a round of applause in the room. Sunrise Wind, which is 70 percent completed, he said, would supply wind from Montauk to Brookhaven Town.

    Romaine pointed to the South Fork Wind Farm, which was “an extremely controversial project,” but “it got done, it’s producing power. Sunrise Wind is not controversial at all.” Still, he said, upon completion, he would “see how it affects the ocean.”

    Romaine said he is working with Long Island Power Authority to tap into solar energy, especially at the Long Island Innovation Park at Hauppauge, and other industrial parks. “Imagine all those flat roofs” tapping into solar, he said, adding that he was working to announce a program that would provide incentives to adapt solar energy.

    Still, he said, the region needs “all of the above. We have an energy deficit, and artificial intelligence is going to make a huge drain on our energy future. We want to be on the cutting edge. We need energy in all sources.”

    Blakeman said that Empire Wind wouldn’t benefit the local community the way Sunrise Wind would. Also, he said he wasn’t against wind energy, and added that “there are many communities upstate that will welcome wind energy and wind farms.”

    DiNapoli said that the emphasis on the region’s “growing energy needs” are absolutely on target.

    Still he said, “Suffolk County was number one in the state” in a recent report on the regions that are vulnerable to severe weather incidents.

    , he said, “is real,” and the region does need to “get off the reliance on fossil fuel.”

    He added that leaders must “stay focused on that energy transition – it’s absolutely essential.”

    Additional panel topics included further discussion about infrastructure, the environment, housing, education and affordability.

    The breakfast also included opening remarks from U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer and closing remarks from New York Gov. Kathy Hochul.

    Hochul announced a five-year $3.75 billion commitment to support the state’s water infrastructure as part of her 2026 legislative agenda.

    Both Hochul, a Democrat, and Blakeman, a Republican, are running for governor this year.

    The morning started with the National Anthem sung by Jillian Cerrato, a 12 year-old who attends Usdan Summer Camp for the Arts.

     


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    Adina Genn

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  • Empire strikes back with lawsuit against wind project stoppage | Long Island Business News

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    THE BLUEPRINT:

    • Empire files federal lawsuit challenging Interior Department stop-work order

    • Developer seeks injunction to continue construction during litigation

    • $5 billion project is already about 60% complete

    • Offshore wind project expected to power 500,000 homes and support nearly 4,000 jobs

    Eleven days after the Trump administration suspended its $5 billion wind power project off Long Island, Empire Offshore Wind LLC has filed a lawsuit to allow its construction to continue. 

    Empire filed a civil suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Friday, Jan. 2 challenging the U.S. ‘s order to suspend its project. Empire is seeking a preliminary injunction to allow construction of the project while the litigation proceeds, according to a statement from , the company behind the Empire Wind project. 

    Equinor said the stop-work order is unlawful and threatens the progress of ongoing work with significant implications for the project, which it maintains is already 60 percent complete.  The company said the injunction is necessary to “avoid additional commercial and financing impacts that are likely to occur should the order remain effective.”  

    Empire Wind and Sunrise Wind, located in the waters off Long Island, were two of five East Coast wind projects that received stop work notices from the Department of the Interior, as part of the ‘s ongoing assault on renewable clean energy.   

    This is the second time this year that the $5 billion Empire Wind project has been stopped by the federal government. It was halted in April by an order from Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, who claimed the Biden administration had rushed its approval, even though the lease for Empire Wind was approved in March 2017 during the first Trump administration. The project was restarted a month later the result of a compromise between the federal government and New York State to revive plans for the NESE gas pipeline project between Pennsylvania and New York that was cancelled five years ago, according to published reports.   

    Once completed in 2027, Empire Wind, being developed under contract with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, is expected to supply enough power to electrify 500,000 homes. The project has created nearly 4,000 jobs within the offshore lease area and through its revitalization of the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal, according to the statement. 

    The reason cited for the federal government’s lease suspensions was that the Pentagon complained that the wind turbine blades would cause radar interference and create a national security risk. In a statement from Department of the Interior, the halting of the wind projects is aimed at providing federal agencies “time to work with leaseholders and state partners to assess the possibility of mitigating the national security risks posed by these projects.” 

    However, Equinor responded that Empire “has coordinated closely with numerous federal officials on national security reviews since it executed its lease for the project in 2017, including with the Department of War, and has complied with relevant national security related requirements identified as part of the regulatory process,” according to the statement.  


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    David Winzelberg

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  • Climate setbacks and steps forward from 2025

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    There’s no mincing words: The list of climate records broken and the number of “unprecedented” extreme weather events this year goes on and on. Just in the past few months, at least 1,750 people died in monsoon flooding in Asia that a consortium of climate scientists attributed to human-caused global heating. Related video above: Solar and wind power increased faster than electricity demand in first half of 2025, report saysIn the U.S., investments in renewable, non-polluting energy were rolled back, and policy moves like the Trump administration’s “Big Beautiful Bill” and the Environmental Protection Agency’s reconsidering a key part of the federal government’s legal authority to regulate emissions.However, other nations have continued to make policy progress on prioritizing renewable energy and protecting the environment, and so have some scientists and groups on this side of the Atlantic.Here are a few of the highs and lows of humanity’s effect on our planet this year.The bad news firstGoal of keeping warming to 2.7 degrees no longer realisticHumans have failed to keep global warming to 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, long considered the goal following the original Paris climate agreement, according to UN Secretary General AntĂłnio Guterres. “Overshooting is now inevitable,” he said.Scientists widely consider the 2.7 degree goal the point at which climate change will begin hitting its most severe, irreversible damage.“We don’t want to see the Amazon as a savannah. But that is a real risk if we don’t change course and if we don’t make a dramatic decrease of emissions as soon as possible,” Guterres said ahead of the 2025 UN climate summit COP30, urging humanity to change course immediately. COP30 fails to make substantive progressUnfortunately, the outcomes from that UN summit did not live up to the secretary general’s hopes. This summit is an annual meeting where member countries measure their progress on addressing climate change and agree to legally binding goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.However, this final decision coming out of this year’s summit only included new voluntary initiatives to accelerate national climate action. According to commentary from the World Resources Institute, more than 80 countries advocated for a “global roadmap” to guide the transition away from fossil fuels, but negotiators didn’t include it in the final decision after they faced opposition from countries whose economies are built largely on oil and gas extraction and exports.World passes first climate ‘tipping point’This year, the world passed its first climate “tipping point,” meaning a threshold of irreversible change. Warming oceans have caused mass death in coral reefs, which are some of the world’s most diverse ecosystems. These reefs support a quarter of marine life and a billion people. Other tipping points, such as the devastation of the Amazon rainforest and melting ice sheets, are also approaching, scientists warn. Record-setting days of heat in major citiesThe world’s major cities now experience a quarter more very hot days every year on average than they did three decades ago, according to a September analysis by the International Institute for Environment and Development.“This isn’t a problem we can simply air-condition our way out of,” said Anna Walnycki, a principal researcher, in a press release. “Fixing it requires comprehensive changes to how neighbourhoods and individual buildings are designed, as well as bringing nature back into our cities in the form of trees and other plants.“Climate change is the new reality. Governments can’t keep their heads buried in the sand anymore.”Where positive action made a differenceGlobal renewable energy generation surpasses coal for first time This year, expanding solar and wind power infrastructure led to record shifts away from fossil fuels and toward renewables. Wind and solar farms produced more electricity than coal plants for the first time, a massive shift for power generation worldwide.According to a report from climate think tank Ember, in the first six months of the year, renewable energy overtook the global demand for electricity. The world generated almost a third more solar power in the first half of the year than it did in the same period last year, meeting a whopping 83% of the global increase in demand for electricity.Solar installations were up 64% around the globe after the first half of the year, driven largely by China, whose solar installations more than doubled compared to last year. Solar installations rose in the U.S. by only 4%, however.Pennsylvania children see drop in asthma after a coal plant closedAfter a coking plant closed near Pittsburgh, the population living in the area saw an immediate 20.5% drop in weekly respiratory trips to the emergency room, according to a study published almost 10 years later. Even more encouraging was that over the immediate term, pediatric emergency department visits decreased by 41.2%, a trend that increased as the months went on. The region also saw lower hospitalizations for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the fourth-leading cause of death worldwide.Congestion toll drops emissions in NYC by 22%In January, New York City became the first in the country to put in place a toll on drivers in certain parts of the city during rush hours. The measure was intended to reduce traffic and improve health. During the first six months of the policy, NYC emissions dropped 22%. The city is using the revenue to fund mass transit, including the subway system.

    There’s no mincing words: The list of climate records broken and the number of “unprecedented” extreme weather events this year goes on and on. Just in the past few months, at least 1,750 people died in monsoon flooding in Asia that a consortium of climate scientists attributed to human-caused global heating.

    Related video above: Solar and wind power increased faster than electricity demand in first half of 2025, report says

    In the U.S., investments in renewable, non-polluting energy were rolled back, and policy moves like the Trump administration’s “Big Beautiful Bill” and the Environmental Protection Agency’s reconsidering a key part of the federal government’s legal authority to regulate emissions.

    However, other nations have continued to make policy progress on prioritizing renewable energy and protecting the environment, and so have some scientists and groups on this side of the Atlantic.

    Here are a few of the highs and lows of humanity’s effect on our planet this year.

    The bad news first

    Goal of keeping warming to 2.7 degrees no longer realistic

    Humans have failed to keep global warming to 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, long considered the goal following the original Paris climate agreement, according to UN Secretary General António Guterres. “Overshooting is now inevitable,” he said.

    Scientists widely consider the 2.7 degree goal the point at which climate change will begin hitting its most severe, irreversible damage.

    “We don’t want to see the Amazon as a savannah. But that is a real risk if we don’t change course and if we don’t make a dramatic decrease of emissions as soon as possible,” Guterres said ahead of the 2025 UN climate summit COP30, urging humanity to change course immediately.

    COP30 fails to make substantive progress

    Unfortunately, the outcomes from that UN summit did not live up to the secretary general’s hopes. This summit is an annual meeting where member countries measure their progress on addressing climate change and agree to legally binding goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

    However, this final decision coming out of this year’s summit only included new voluntary initiatives to accelerate national climate action. According to commentary from the World Resources Institute, more than 80 countries advocated for a “global roadmap” to guide the transition away from fossil fuels, but negotiators didn’t include it in the final decision after they faced opposition from countries whose economies are built largely on oil and gas extraction and exports.

    World passes first climate ‘tipping point’

    This year, the world passed its first climate “tipping point,” meaning a threshold of irreversible change. Warming oceans have caused mass death in coral reefs, which are some of the world’s most diverse ecosystems. These reefs support a quarter of marine life and a billion people.

    Other tipping points, such as the devastation of the Amazon rainforest and melting ice sheets, are also approaching, scientists warn.

    Record-setting days of heat in major cities

    The world’s major cities now experience a quarter more very hot days every year on average than they did three decades ago, according to a September analysis by the International Institute for Environment and Development.

    “This isn’t a problem we can simply air-condition our way out of,” said Anna Walnycki, a principal researcher, in a press release. “Fixing it requires comprehensive changes to how neighbourhoods and individual buildings are designed, as well as bringing nature back into our cities in the form of trees and other plants.

    “Climate change is the new reality. Governments can’t keep their heads buried in the sand anymore.”

    Where positive action made a difference

    Global renewable energy generation surpasses coal for first time

    This year, expanding solar and wind power infrastructure led to record shifts away from fossil fuels and toward renewables. Wind and solar farms produced more electricity than coal plants for the first time, a massive shift for power generation worldwide.

    According to a report from climate think tank Ember, in the first six months of the year, renewable energy overtook the global demand for electricity. The world generated almost a third more solar power in the first half of the year than it did in the same period last year, meeting a whopping 83% of the global increase in demand for electricity.

    Solar installations were up 64% around the globe after the first half of the year, driven largely by China, whose solar installations more than doubled compared to last year. Solar installations rose in the U.S. by only 4%, however.

    Pennsylvania children see drop in asthma after a coal plant closed

    After a coking plant closed near Pittsburgh, the population living in the area saw an immediate 20.5% drop in weekly respiratory trips to the emergency room, according to a study published almost 10 years later. Even more encouraging was that over the immediate term, pediatric emergency department visits decreased by 41.2%, a trend that increased as the months went on. The region also saw lower hospitalizations for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the fourth-leading cause of death worldwide.

    Congestion toll drops emissions in NYC by 22%

    In January, New York City became the first in the country to put in place a toll on drivers in certain parts of the city during rush hours. The measure was intended to reduce traffic and improve health. During the first six months of the policy, NYC emissions dropped 22%. The city is using the revenue to fund mass transit, including the subway system.

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  • Lawmakers demand answers on offshore wind projects

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    BOSTON — Massachusetts’ two U.S. senators are demanding answers from the Trump administration about the “national security threats” it cited in the decision to scuttle several multibillion-dollar offshore wind projects.

    In a letter to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey demanded a sit-down meeting with the agencies to review “recently completed classified reports” behind the “national security risks” the Trump administration cited in its decision to halt construction of the offshore wind projects.

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  • Waste Management plans to build plant to turn landfill methane into useable natural gas

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    DENVER – All landfills face a similar challenge.

    “Decomposition occurs of organic materials within the landfill as it’s compressed, and creates Methane and CO2,” said Zachery Clayton, Manager of Environmental Medicine Planning with the Denver Department of Public Health and Environment.

    Denver owns the Denver Arapahoe Disposal Site or the so-called DADS Landfill in Arapahoe County. It’s operated by Waste Management that currently has a procedure to reduce methane gas.

    “We’re actually capturing landfill methane gas, sending it to an electric engine plant, and we convert that gas into electricity and export it to the grid. Many of the residents throughout Denver enjoy that electricity, not even knowing that it came from the landfill,” said Brian Snyder, Director of Operations for Waste Management (WM) Renewable Energy.

    In that process, there is excess methane that is then burned off, or ‘flared.’

    “What it does is, it burns all the methane off, and then there’s subsequent pollutants that go into there, such as sulfur oxides and things like that, nitrous oxides,” said Clayton.

    WM and the City and County of Denver recently agreed on a partnership to change and update that whole process.

    Denver7

    WM is hoping to pay for and build a new renewable natural gas plant at the DADS landfill.

    “It’s going to capture about 98% of the methane that comes out of the landfill. It goes to the plant, it scrubs it, it cleans it to 98% and then it puts it into a pipeline and transmission line and goes out for distribution,” said Clayton.

    The renewable natural gas can then be used as power.

    “We’re going to collect over a million MMBtu of gas from the landfill, and that’s going to power nearly 15,000 homes with natural gas,” said Snyder.

    Snyder adds WM has already started investing into compressed natural gas vehicles, and plans to use some of the gas from the new plant to power around 900 trash collection vehicles a year.

    waste management.png

    Denver7

    There’s another large impact for anyone outside the landfill.

    “Improve the air quality: that’s number one, which is extremely beneficial. It takes something that’s currently, could be dangerous, and puts it as a beneficial reuse,” said Clayton.

    The project still needs to go through the planning and permitting phase. Clayton said that will also include a public input process.

    If approved to move forward, the plant could be up and running by 2027.

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    Denver7 | Your Voice: Get in touch with Danielle Kreutter

    Denver7’s Danielle Kreutter covers stories that have an impact in all of Colorado’s communities, but specializes in reporting on affordable housing and issues surrounding the unhoused community. If you’d like to get in touch with Danielle, fill out the form below to send her an email.

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  • Trump administration halts Long Island wind projects | Long Island Business News

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    Two major power projects off Long Island have been stopped by the Trump administration, which suspended their leases on Monday. 

    Empire Wind and Sunrise Wind, located in the waters off Long Island, were two of five East Coast wind projects that received stop work notices from the U.S. , as part of the Trump administration’s ongoing assault on renewable clean energy. 

    The reason cited for the lease suspensions was that the Pentagon complained that the wind turbine blades would cause radar interference and create a national security risk. In a statement from Department of the Interior, the halting of the wind projects is aimed at providing federal agencies “time to work with leaseholders and state partners to assess the possibility of mitigating the national security risks posed by these projects.” 

    This is the second time this year that the $5 billion Empire Wind project has been stopped by the federal government. It was halted in April by an order from Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, who claimed the Biden administration had rushed its approval, even though the lease for Empire Wind was approved in March 2017 during the first Trump administration. The project was restarted a month later the result of a compromise between the federal government and New York State to revive plans for the NESE gas pipeline project between Pennsylvania and New York that was cancelled five years ago, according to published reports.  

    President Trump has long railed against wind power, calling the turbines ugly and inefficient, a criticism that’s been echoed by Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, who is now running for governor with Trump’s endorsement. 

    Gov. Kathy Hochul bashed the halting of the wind projects. “The Trump administration will look for any excuse to continue its assault on clean energy — and the thousands of good-paying jobs these projects bring — but there is no credible justification for this stoppage,” Hochul said in a statement. 

    Equinor, the company behind Empire Wind, said the project is more than 60 percent complete. 

    “In total, dozens of vessels, around 1,000 people, and more than a hundred companies in the U.S. and globally have been working in coordination on the Empire Wind project,” the company said in a written statement. “The stop work order threatens the progress of these activities and without a swift solution there may be significant impact to the project.” 

    Once completed in 2027, Empire Wind is expected to supply enough power to electrify 500,000 homes. The $700 million Sunrise Wind project, being developed by Ørsted about 30 miles off Montauk, is projected to create enough energy to power 600,000 homes. Both projects combined have created thousands of jobs. 

    Along with Sunrise, Ørsted also had its Revolution Wind project stopped. That project off Rhode Island, had been halted by the Trump administration in August, before a federal judge lifted the ban. 

    “Revolution Wind and Sunrise Wind are both in advanced stages of construction and will be ready to deliver reliable, affordable power to American homes in 2026, with Revolution Wind expected to begin generating power in January,” said an Ørsted statement. 

    The company said it is “evaluating all options to resolve the matter expeditiously, together with its partners,” including “the evaluation of potential legal proceedings.” 

    The 90-day suspension of the leases can be extended by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. 

    The move to suspend the wind projects has been slammed by state and local officials, trade groups and organized labor.

    “Right in the midst of the holiday season, we learned that President Trump is once again pulling the rug out from under New York workers,” Hochul wrote in an op-ed published Tuesday by the Empire Report. “… The jobs building these wind farms aren’t just good union jobs that keep families afloat – they are also jobs that will create clean energy and keep energy costs down.” 

    Hochul added that the wind projects “reduce pressure on energy prices for families already stretched thin. And they anchor a robust offshore wind supply chain, from ports and manufacturers to electricians, ironworkers, and longshoremen who depend on these projects to keep working.”   


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  • Trump’s Return Brought Stiff Headwinds for Clean Energy. So Why are Advocates Optimistic in 2026?

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    There were some highs amid a lot of lows in a roller coaster year for clean energy as President Donald Trump worked to boost polluting fuels while blocking wind and solar, according to dozens of energy developers, experts and politicians.

    Plug Power president Jose Luis Crespo said the developments — both policy recalibration and technological progress — will shape clean energy’s trajectory for years to come.

    Energy policy whiplash in 2025

    Much of clean energy’s fate in 2025 was driven by booster Joe Biden’s exit from the White House.

    The year began with ample federal subsidies for clean energy technologies, a growing number of U.S.-based companies making parts and materials for projects and a lot of demand from states and corporations, said Tom Harper, partner at global consultant Baringa.

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  • Trump’s return brought stiff headwinds for clean energy. So why are advocates optimistic in 2026?

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    There were some highs amid a lot of lows in a roller coaster year for clean energy as President Donald Trump worked to boost polluting fuels while blocking wind and solar, according to dozens of energy developers, experts and politicians.

    Surveyed by The Associated Press, many described 2025 as turbulent and challenging for clean energy, though there was progress as projects connected to the electric grid. They said clean energy must continue to grow to meet skyrocketing demand for electricity to power data centers and to lower Americans’ utility bills.

    Solar builder and operator Jorge Vargas said it has been “a very tough year for clean energy” as Trump often made headlines criticizing renewable energy and Republicans muscled a tax and spending cut bill through Congress in July that dramatically rolled back tax breaks for clean energy.

    “There was a cooldown effect this year,” said Vargas, cofounder and CEO of Aspen Power. “Having said that, we are a resilient industry.”

    Plug Power president Jose Luis Crespo said the developments — both policy recalibration and technological progress — will shape clean energy’s trajectory for years to come.

    Much of clean energy’s fate in 2025 was driven by booster Joe Biden’s exit from the White House.

    The year began with ample federal subsidies for clean energy technologies, a growing number of U.S.-based companies making parts and materials for projects and a lot of demand from states and corporations, said Tom Harper, partner at global consultant Baringa.

    It ends with subsidies stripped back, a weakened supply chain, higher costs from tariffs and some customers questioning their commitment to clean energy, Harper said. He described the year as “paradigm shifting.”

    Trump called wind and solar power “the scam of the century” and vowed not to approve new projects. The federal government canceled grants for hundreds of projects.

    The Republicans’ tax bill reversed or steeply curtailed clean energy programs established through the Democrats’ flagship climate and health care bill in 2022. Wayne Winegarden, at the Pacific Research Institute think tank, said the time has come for alternative energy to demonstrate viability without subsidies. ( Fossil fuels also receive subsidies.)

    Many energy executives said this was the most consequential policy shift. The bill reshaped the economics of clean energy projects, drove a rush to start construction before incentives expire and forced developers to reassess their strategies for acquiring parts and materials, Lennart Hinrichs said. He leads the expansion of TWAICE in the Americas, providing analytics software for battery energy storage systems.

    Companies can’t make billion-dollar investments with so much policy uncertainty, said American Clean Power Association CEO Jason Grumet.

    Consequently, greenhouse gas emissions will fall at a much lower rate than previously projected in the U.S., said Brian Murray, director of the Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment and Sustainability at Duke University.

    Solar and storage accounted for 85% of the new power added to the grid in the first nine months of the Trump administration, according to Wood Mackenzie research.

    That’s because the economics remain strong, demand is high and the technologies can be deployed quickly, said Mike Hall, CEO of Anza Renewables.

    Solar energy company Sol Systems said it had a record year as it brought its largest utility-scale project online and grew its business. The energy storage systems company CMBlu Energy said storage clearly stands out as a winner this year too, moving from optional to essential.

    “Trump’s effort to manipulate government regulation to harm clean energy just isn’t enough to offset the natural advantages that clean energy has,” Democratic U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse said. “The direction is still all good.”

    The Solar Energy Industries Association said that no matter the policies in Washington, solar and storage will grow as the backbone of the nation’s energy future.

    Democrats and Republicans have supported investing to keep nuclear reactors online, restart previously closed reactors and deploy new, advanced reactor designs. Nuclear power is a carbon-free source of electricity, though not typically labeled as green energy like other renewables.

    “Who had ‘restart Three Mile Island’ on their 2025 Bingo card?” questioned Baringa partner David Shepheard. The Pennsylvania plant was the site of the nation’s worst commercial nuclear power accident, in 1979. The Energy Department is loaning $1 billion to help finance a restart.

    Everyone loves nuclear, said Darrin Kayser, executive vice president at Edelman. It helps that the technology for small, modular reactors is starting to come to fruition, Kayser added.

    Benton Arnett, a senior director at the Nuclear Energy Institute, said that as the need for clean, reliable power intensifies, “we will look back on the actions being taken now as laying the foundation.”

    The Trump administration also supports geothermal energy, and the tax bill largely preserved geothermal tax credits. The Geothermal Rising association said technologies continue to mature and produce, making 2025 a breakthrough year.

    Momentum for offshore wind in the United States came to a grinding halt just as the industry was starting to gain traction, said Joey Lange, a senior managing director at Trio, a global sustainability and energy advisory company.

    The Trump administration stopped construction on major offshore wind farms, revoked wind energy permits and paused permitting, canceled plans to use large areas of federal waters for new offshore wind development and stopped federal funding for offshore wind projects.

    That has decimated the projects, developers and tech innovators, and no one in wind is raising or spending capital, said Eric Fischgrund, founder and CEO at FischTank PR. Still, Fischgrund said he remains optimistic because the world is transitioning to cleaner energy.

    An energy strategy with a diverse mix of sources is the only way forward as demand grows from data centers and other sources, and as people demand affordable, reliable electricity, said former Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu. Landrieu, now with Natural Allies for a Clean Energy Future, said promoting or punishing specific energy technologies on ideological grounds is unsustainable.

    Experts expect solar and battery storage to continue growing in 2026 to add a lot of power to the grid quickly and cheaply. The market will continue to ensure that most new electricity is renewable, said Amanda Levin, policy analysis director at the Natural Resources Defense Council.

    Hillary Bright, executive director of Turn Forward, thinks offshore wind will still play an important role too. It is both ready and needed to help address the demand for electricity in the new year, which will become increasingly clear “to all audiences,” she said. Turn Forward advocates for offshore wind.

    That skyrocketing demand “is shaking up the political calculus that drove the administration’s early policy decisions around renewables,” she said.

    BlueWave CEO Sean Finnerty thinks that states, feeling the pressure to deliver affordable, reliable electricity, will increasingly drive clean energy momentum in 2026 by streamlining permitting and the process of connecting to the grid, and by reducing costs for things like permits and fees.

    Ed Gunn, Lunar Energy’s vice president for revenue, said the industry has weathered tough years before.

    “The fundamentals are unchanged,” Gunn said, “there is massive value in clean energy.”

    ___

    The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

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  • Judge overturns Trump order blocking wind permits

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    BOSTON — A federal judge gave the go-ahead for Massachusetts and other states to proceed with wind energy expansion by rejecting an executive order signed by President Donald Trump halting permits for clean energy projects.

    The ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Patti Saris on Monday sides with Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell and 16 other Democrats who challenged Trump’s authority to enforce an order Jan. 20 that halted several offshore wind energy projects along the Atlantic Coast from Maine to New Jersey.

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    By Christian M. Wade | Statehouse Reporter

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